Isopod-Pill Bug by ShadowsNTime

Photography • Insects • posted on Apr 27, 2008

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Description

In all the years I have seen these little bugs I always thought they were called waterbugs, because they are found in wet places. And to my surprise when I took this picture, their little shell is reflective! If you look close you can see the house behind me in his 'armor'. Their actual common name is Pill Bug. Here is some info on them.. Pill Bug:Isopod Life Cycle: A pill bug begins its life as a tiny egg. The young pill bug looks almost like a miniature adult. As it grows, it molts (sheds its old, outgrown exoskeleton) 4 to 5 times. The Anatomy: Pill bugs are covered by a hard exoskeleton (also called the cuticle) made from chitin. They have three basic body parts, the head (which is fused to the first segment of the thorax), the thorax (the 7 segments of the thorax that are not fused to the head are called the pereon), and the abdomen (which is also called the pleon). Pill bugs have 7 pairs of jointed legs and 2 pairs of antennae (but one pair is barely visible). The antennae, mouth and eyes are located on the head. A pair of abdominal uropods are at the posterior end of the pill bug, but only the terminal exopods are visible from the top of the pill bug. Pill bugs are less than an inch long. Their Diet: Pill bugs eat decaying plants and animals and some living plants. Info found at Enchanted Learning.com Thanks for looking and previous comments! I cropped and zoomed this image a bit for better viewing.

Comments (15)

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DarkStormCrow

5:52AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

Nice capture and image, well done...

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B_PEACOCK

6:02AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

We use to call them doodle bugs in the south.Nice shot Lynn

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ShadowsNTime

6:03AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

yes you can! KEWL! very military looking: ) alex

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e-brink

6:10AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

In England we call them Woodlice.

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ledwolorz

6:15AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

Superb shot.

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SapUS59

6:19AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

excellent capture of this little guy, great work !!

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thefixer

6:25AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

Yep it's Woodlice or Woodlouse in Wales too!!

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Meisiekind

9:48AM | Sun, 27 April 2008

Great spotting this fellow. He is almost the same color as the stones around him. Looks nasty though!!! :)

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dhanco

12:06PM | Sun, 27 April 2008

Don't know you saw him, Lynn. He totally blends in with the rocks. Great capture of the little critter.

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durleybeachbum

12:36PM | Sun, 27 April 2008

I love these creatures! But when my son was about 4 I found him in the garden making them roll up and then popping them into his mouth like sweeties! When I was little I used them as silver ball cake decorations on my mud cakes that I iced with runny shiny mud. The only trouble was they used to wander off and leave tracks in my perfect surface.

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